Hosea 6:1–7:16

A CALL TO REPENTANCE

6 Come, let’s return to the Lord.an

For he has torn us,ao

and he will heal us;ap

he has wounded us,

and he will bind up our wounds.aq

2 He will revive us after two days,ar

and on the third day he will raise us up

so we can live in his presence.as

3 Let’s strive to know the Lord.at

His appearance is as sure as the dawn.au

He will come to us like the rain,av

like the spring showers that water the land.

THE LORD’S FIRST LAMENT

4 What am I going to do with you, Ephraim?aw

What am I going to do with you, Judah?

Your love is like the morning mistax

and like the early dew that vanishes.

5 This is why I have used the prophets

to cut them down;C,ay

I have killed them with the words from my mouth.

My judgment strikes like lightning.D

6 For I desire faithful love and not sacrifice,

the knowledge of Godaz rather than burnt offerings.ba

7 But they, like Adam,E have violated the covenant;a

there they have betrayed me.b

8 Gilead is a city of evildoers,c

tracked with bloody footprints.d

9 Like raiders who wait in ambush for someone,e

a band of priests murders on the road to Shechem.f

They commit atrocities.g

10 I have seen something horribleh in the house of Israel:

Ephraim’s promiscuity is there;i Israel is defiled.

11 A harvest is also appointed for you, Judah.j

When I return my people from captivity,k

7 when I heal Israel,l

the iniquity of Ephraimm and the crimes of Samarian

will be exposed.

For they practice fraud;o

a thief breaks in;

a raiding party pillages outside.p

2 But they never consider that I remember all their evil.q

Now their actions are all around them;r

they are right in front of my face.

ISRAEL’S CORRUPTION

3 They please the king with their evil,s

the princes with their lies.t

4 All of them commit adultery;u

they are like an oven heated by a baker

who stops stirring the fire

from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.

5 On the day of our king,

the princes are sick with the heat of winev—

there is a conspiracy with traitors.A

6 For they—their hearts like an oven—

draw him into their oven.

Their anger smolders all night;

in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

7 All of them are as hot as an oven,w

and they consume their rulers.x

All their kings fall;

not one of them calls on me.B

8 Ephraim has allowed himself to get mixed up with the nations.

Ephraim is unturned bread baked on a griddle.

9 Foreigners consume his strength,y

but he does not notice.z

Even his hair is streaked with gray,

but he does not notice.

10 Israel’s arrogance testifies against them,C,aa

yet they do not return to the Lord their God,ab

and for all this, they do not seek him.

11 So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove;ac

they call to Egypt,ad and they go to Assyria.ae

12 As they are going, I will spread my net over them;af

I will bring them down like birds of the sky.

I will discipline them in accordance

with the news that reachesA their assembly.

THE LORD’S SECOND LAMENT

13 Woe to them,ag for they fled from me;ah

destruction to them, for they rebelled against me!

Though I want to redeem them,ai

they speak lies against me.

14 They do not cry to me from their hearts;

rather, they wail on their beds.

They slash themselvesB,aj for grain and new wine;ak

they turn away from me.

15 I trained and strengthened their arms,al

but they plot evil against me.am

16 They turn, but not to what is above;C

they are like a faulty bow.an

Their leaders will fall by the sword

because of their insolent tongue.ao

They will be ridiculed for this in the land of Egypt.ap